Forum, July 11: No to NewVista; Vote For Nobody

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

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Say No to NewVista

There’s a lot of speculation about what will draw young Vermonters to the state, but to my knowledge, no one has bothered to actually ask. As the NewVista development proposal came forward, people began to ask, what will Vermont look like in 50 years? Will we be economically downtrodden? Will our schools have children in them? Will our communities exist? These are questions that should not be left to one person to decide. These are national problems, and not just happening here in Vermont.

While I do not presume to speak for all younger Vermonters, I can say this: I did not settle in Vermont for NewVista. I came here for Vermont. I came here for freedom and unity, and to show my future children what that means. I came here so they could live in an area where they can visit farms that provide them with local, organic produce; where they can see democracy in action come Town Meeting day; where they can head down the street to the commons and watch their neighbors’ band play; where they can hike on the mountains that we love so much.

We live in rural Vermont because we want to homestead, live a quiet and sustainable lifestyle without watching our neighbors over a picket fence or walking everywhere on concrete. If we wanted to live in a planned city, we wouldn’t live here.

I ask you, my community and all of Vermont, to not sacrifice the young generation here now. I ask you to give us a chance to give back to Vermont before our voices are thrown away and sold out to NewVista. We worked hard to get here, and we will continue to work hard now. We will bring business, technology and sustainability, but we will do so in a scale appropriate to Vermont and its people. We ask for time. Let us plan our futures and the futures of our children. Let us take up the call to action to plan for a larger population due to climate change, in a way that strengthens communities that already exist. I hope that the Vermont of 50 years from now is one that has embraced a local economy, supported clean energy initiatives, empowered democratic communities, and said no to NewVista.

Rebecca Milaschewski

Sharon

The Immigrant Story of America

The Fourth of July weekend found us sharing stories from our extended families. Having survived Japanese occupation in Korea, my Dad somehow graduated medical school, only to be told he would have to leave his homeland because no one would come see a pediatrician with a handicap. He made his way to America on a fellowship and was in the lab of Albert Sabin when he created the oral polio vaccine. A sister-in-law told the story of her Armenian grandfather who fled the Turks for Mexico. Still searching, the family came to America. My sister-in-law worked menial jobs before putting herself through college in Michigan and is now a successful entrepreneur. Another in-law related being put on a boat with her brother by their parents as they fled the North Vietnamese. They made their way to the West Coast, where she grew up and had a successful career in a Seattle hospital. Still another sister-in-law talked about her father who had no money (except for some money from a friend he happened to see in the airport as he was leaving). He left Malaysia and would eventually become a successful anesthesiologist in New York. All of these young immigrants turned a desire for a better life into an American success story.

More importantly, their success has yielded greater benefits to our society. Their children are all college graduates or are fully employed. They are doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, salespeople and more. The immigrant story renews itself with each new person who enters this country and is the lifeblood to what has become the great American success story. We just need to keep the doors open to all.

Chris Rhim

Norwich

Not for Clinton, Not for Trump

FBI Director James Comey said this week that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton may not have been “sophisticated enough” to understand the classified markings on emails she sent and received, which explains why did didn’t know she was breaking the letter of the law. Clinton graduated from law school; she practiced law for a short time; she was a senator, then secretary of state — “and she may not have been ‘sophisticated enough’ to understand the classified markings.”

I would like to know what drug Comey is on, just in case I want to be delusional sometime. And if he is correct, why would anyone vote for her to become our next president?

Right after his testimony, a dear liberal friend of mine, who lives in Berkeley, Calif., called to let me know she thinks Clinton is the Richard Nixon of the Democratic Party.

By the way, I am not for Trump — I am 73 and this will be the first time I will not vote in a presidential election since I was 18!